NASA scientist offers perspective on the factors that may lead to life on a planet

December 12, 2014 3:40 PM

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(Phys.org)—NASA space scientist Pamela Conrad has offered a Perspective piece in the journal Science, reminding readers that the search for life on planets such as Mars, isn't limited to just looking for water. Instead, she notes, most researchers believe that a combination of events must occur, likely simultaneously for life to get a start and then to be maintained.

Conrad notes that a lot of the press regarding the study of Mars by scientists with NASA and other groups, tends to focus on the search for water, or evidence that water was once there—with the implication that if it was, then surely evidence will be found that life was there too. But that is not re...